Condo Owner Turns Down Parking Deal

DEERFIELD BEACH — A beachfront condominium owner has turned down a proposed swap that would have enabled the city to use 44 spaces in the building`s parking garage.

Robert Cook, sales manager of the Beach House, 330 SE 20th Ave., said he wouldn`t specify why the building`s owner, the Crossland Bank of New York, had declined to accept the offer.

``It just got out of hand and we don`t even want to discuss it,`` Cook said.

City commissioners unanimously voted last month to pursue the parking agreement after Mayor Jean Robb proposed it. She said she had asked Cook about the availability of extra parking spaces in the building`s garage.

Among the incentives commissioners discussed was painting stripes on the building`s 176 parking spaces, at a cost of $300. Robb said the Beach House lot would have been ideal for city employees who park at the Fire Department station at 31 SE 21st Ave.

City Manager J. Eldon Mariott said the refusal didn`t surprise him because the arrangement could have presented a number of problems for the Beach House while primarily benefiting the city.